The ill-equipped and untrained Arab armies had fought on
two fronts at the same time during the early regime of the second Caliph. On the
front of Iraq, they engaged the large armies of Chosroes, the mighty Persian
Emperor and on the Syrian front they were arrayed against the formidable forces
of the Byzantine Emperor.

The Arabs fought a battle all day long against the
formidable Roman forces in Syria. The issue hung in balance. The Arab warriors
assembled in their camp to review their day's progress. At last a gallant
soldier stood up and addressed them in a resolute voice:

"Brothers! God is with us. We are fighting for the noble
cause of establishing a regime based on equality, fraternity and justice.
Tomorrow I want to teach a lesson to these Roman hordes."

" I think you have overestimated your strength. In this
way you would be playing with the valuable lives of the Muslims", retorted Abu
Sufyan.

"No, not at all. In reality, I want to save the valuable
lives of the Muslims. In this way, I want to overawe the enemy who are proud of
their superior strength and military equipment", replied Khalid bin Waleed.

At last Abu Ubaidah commander of the Arab forces,
intervened and it was agreed that the lion-hearted Khalid bin Waleed would face
the sixty thousand well equipped sturdy soldiers of Jablah bin Ghassan with
sixty Muslims instead of thirty. The next day Khalid bin Waleed with 59
companions fought a memorable battle unparalleled in the history of military
warfare against 60 thousand Christians. The battle raged all day long and the
sixty Arabs were lost in a sea of armed men, and fought like lions against the
surging waves of enemy forces bent upon sweeping them off their feet. The
occasional cry of Allah-u-Akbar (God is Great) raised above the din of the
battle proclaimed their existence to their fellow fighters who were watching the
progress of the battle with great anxiety. At last, with one last effort Khalid
bin Waleed who was fighting like a hero, won the day and the Christians were
routed with heavy losses. The invincible Khalid won a memorable battle unheard
of in the history of warfare. The victory established Arab's superiority over
the Romans despite their exceptional inferiority in numbers and equipment.

Abu Sulaiman, Khalid bin Waleed Al-Qarshi belonged to the
most respectable Quraysh clan. His father, Abdush Shams Al-Waleed bin
Al-Mughaira, was considered among the wisest men of Quraysh and was known for
his oratory and bravery throughout Arabia. Khalid who was hardly 17 years old at
the birth of Islam, evinced keen interest in the science of warfare, including
riding, lancing and archery, in which he soon earned a high reputation. His
memorable charge in the battle of Uhud against the Muslims from the rear was
repulsed after hard fighting. Khalid bin Waleed accepted Islam in the 8th A.H.
along with Amr bin Aas, another well-known figure in early Islam. His first
appearance as a soldier of Islam was in the battle of Mauta, fought in the 8th
A.H. in which he exhibited exceptional bravery and military skill. The Muslims,
with barely 300 men faced a Roman army of 150 thousand well trained soldiers.
The earlier Muslim commanders were killed fighting in the battle-field when the
command of the Muslims was entrusted to Khalid bin Waleed, who fought like a
lion and broke eight swords in a single battle. Taking a tough rear guard
action, Khalid bin Waleed exhibited a rare military skill and got his men safely
out of the thick of the battle.

The breach of agreement by the Quraysh of Mecca led to the
invasion of the Holy city in which Khalid was entrusted with the command of the
right flank of the Muslim army. The Muslims entered the Holy city without any
resistance and the insurgents were granted free pardon by the kind-hearted
Prophet of Islam. `The people themselves (ie of Mecca), however, were treated
with special magnanimity' writes Phillip K. Hitti, `Hardly a triumphal entry in
ancient annals is comparable to this'. The other campaigns in which Khalid took
active part during the lifetime of the Prophet are the battles of Hunain, Najran
and the seize of Taif.

The death of the Prophet caused gloom over the Muslims.
With the disappearance of central authority, the Arabian tribes rose in revolt
against their new faith. Hazrat Abu Bakr who was elected as the First Caliph of
Islam was adamant in his insistence on unconditional surrender by the seceders
or war unto destruction. Khalid bin Waleed was the hero of these wars. `Within
some six months of his generalship he had reduced the tribes of Central Arabia
to submission' (Hitti). Before his death, the Prophet (sws) had assigned to
Osama the command of a campaign against the Romans. Hazrat Abu Bakr, on his
election as the Caliph, was advised by his most trusted lieutenants not to
despatch the Muslim force outside the Capital which was threatened from all
sides. But the pious Caliph declined to set aside the order of his deceased
master and despatched the force under Usama which had a sobering effect on the
recalcitrant Arab tribes and contributed immensely in establishing the dwindling
military prestige of Islam.

Khalid bin Waleed, the Sword of God, as the Prophet (sws)
once called him, was the hero of the successive campaigns against the seceding
Arabian tribes. He played a leading role in the pacification of Arabia. Toleiha,
Musailma, the impostor and Malik bin Nawera, were defeated one after the other
after hard fighting. According to the early historians of Islam, the campaign
against the forty thousand sturdy coilers, led by Musailima, was the hardest
ever fought by the warriors of early Islam in which the extra ordinary bravery
and military skill of Khalid won the day and Musailima was killed in an
adjoining garden. This victory established once more the military superiority of
Islam all over Arabia.

The neighboring Persian and Roman Empires, which hitherto,
scoffed at and underrated the Arabian military strength, now saw a threat to
their interests in the rising power of Islam. The pacification of Northern
Arabia brought Muslims in conflict with the Persians who ruled over Arabian Iraq
and were acknowledged as overlords by the Nomad Arabian tribes inhabiting the
neighboring areas. The Persians instigated these tribes to rise against Islam.
Such machinations on the part of the Persians against Islam, obliged the kind
hearted virtuous Caliph, Abu Bakr, to despatch forces under the command of the
invincible Khalid bin Waleed to Iraq on the 12th of Muharram 12 A.H. The first
to oppose them was Hormuz, a tyrant hated by his Arab subjects who ruled over
the Delta region. Khalid divided his troops in three portions, placing Muthanna
in command of the advance column, Adi, son of Hatim over the second and himself
bringing up the rear. He advanced strategically on Al Hafir, the frontier
military post of the Persian Empire. `Thereupon Hormuz challenged Khalid',
writes Sir William Muir `to single combat and though he treacherously posted an
ambuscade, was in the encounter slain. The Muslims then rushed forward and great
slaughter put the enemy to flight, pursuing them to the bank of the Euphrates',
("The Caliphate --- Its Rise, Decline and Fall"). The battle was called `Zaat
as-Salasil' (Mistress of the Chains) because a major portion of the Persian army
was tied up with one another by chains to prevent their giving way.

In another campaign near the great Canal of Tigris in
which a small flying column under the command of Al-Muthanna was in great peril,
Khalid arrived just in time to relieve his lieutenant, defeated the reinforced
Persian army with heavy losses, a large number of enemy soldiers being either
killed or drowned.

The Persian Court was now alarmed at the unexpected
victories of a handful of untrained and ill-equipped Muslims against their
force, much superior in number and organization. The Persian Emperor raised a
levy of the loyal Arab clans and hastily despatched a formidable force under the
command of Bahman, a veteran Persian General. The two armies met at Al Walaja,
near the confluence of the two rivers in April 633 A.C. Khalid who divided his
arm into three portions, marched forward his advanced columns to meet the enemy
while he kept two columns in reserve and surprised the exhausted enemy by an
ambuscade placed in the rear. Thus the superior tactics and the great military
skill of Khalid won the day for the Muslims against the much superior Persian
forces.

A bitter feeling was aroused among the bedouin Christian
tribes, who appealed to Ardashir, the Persian Emperor, to avenge their defeat. A
large combined force comprising bedouins and Persians was hurriedly despatched
under a tried Persian General Japan to meet the Muslim force at Ulles in May
633. A.C. Leaving a strong detachment at Al-Hafir, to guard his rear, Khalid
hastily marched forward to meet enemy. The battle was fiercely contested and for
a long time the issue hung in balance. At last, after a fierce charge by Khalid,
the Persians gave way and fled, leaving behind seventy thousand dead on the
battle-field. In a single combat, Khalid had a Persian warrior, who was reputed
to be equal to one thousand warriors.

By this time, the Persians were thoroughly disillusioned
and their spirit was broken. Nevertheless, the bedouin Christians insisted on
expelling the invaders. Amghisiya, a prosperous town in the neighborhood of Al
Hira, was surprised by Khalid. The Caliph when apprised of these victories of
the Muslim armies, cried out `O, Ye Quraish, verily your lion, the lion of
Islam, hath leapt upon the lion of Persia, and spoiled him of his prey. Women
shall no more bear a second Khalid'.

Khalid with a flying squadron hastened to the canal head
to close the sluices to enable his grounded boats to ascend the canal. Al Hira
was besieged by Muslims and capitulated shortly after. A treaty was signed with
the residents of Hira in 633 A.C. which was later rectified by the Caliph of
Islam. Hira was made the Headquarters of Islamic forces and from here Khalid
started the consolidation of his gains. The beneficial reforms introduced by
Khalid in consultation with the Caliph in favour of agriculturists and the
common man inhabiting the conquered countries provided a striking contrast to
the Persian feudalism hitherto prevailing in these regions. Hence, the Muslims
were welcomed as benefactors replacing the tyrannical Persian overlords. For
precautionary measures Muslim garrisons were quartered here and there and the
troops were kept ready in movable columns.

The next to be besieged was the fortress of Anbar,
situated on the Euphrates about eighty miles above Babylon. The deep fosse
adjoining the fortress was crossed by casting the bodies of worn out slain
camels and the city capitulated without much resistance. Ain at Taur, a green
spot in the neighborhood of Anbar, was also captured by the Muslims.

Khalid had now reached Al Firad, a place on Syrian Iraqi
borders, which was divided by a river. The Syrian frontiers were guarded by a
strong Byzantine garrison, which being alarmed at the success of Khalid, made a
common cause with Persians and bedouin Christians in order to defeat the Muslim
invaders. A long and severe conflict ensued, in which Muslims were victorious
and the enemy lost more than one lakh soldiers.

The victories of Islam over the Persians established the
supremacy of Islamic arms and the invincibility of Khalid bin Waleed, the Sword
of God. Khalid stayed in Iraq for about fourteen months and during this period
he fought and won fifteen engagements against an enemy which was far superior in
men and arms. The Arabs, who hitherto, considered themselves much inferior to
the Persians in all walks of life and acknowledged them their overlords, now
shed off their inferiority complex and regained their self-confidence. The
lightening victories of Khalid in Iraq which paralyzed the vast and resourceful
Persian Empire in such a short space of time, may rank among the most glorious
campaigns in the annals of military warfare and have placed him amongst the
greatest Generals of all times. He had devised several new tactics which were
hitherto unknown to the world, including the charge by the reserve force. He
also proved to be a good administrator who consolidated his gains, stationed
military garrison at suitable places to secure the area, effected agrarian and
other reforms advantageous to the common man which endeared the Muslims to the
locals in contrast to their previous feudal Persian overlords. The Muslims with
their democratic leanings were preferable to Persian bureaucrats.

After the defeat of the combined forces at Firad in
January 634 A.C. the season for Hajj pilgrimage having drawn close, Khalid
attempted to secretly perform Hajj. Sir William Muir in his well-known work "The
Caliphate--Its Rise, Decline and Fall", writes: `The season for the Mecca
pilgrimage being now at hand, Khalid formed the singular resolve of performing
it incognito unknown even to his royal master. So, having recruited his army for
ten days on the well fought field, he gave orders to march slowly and by easy
stages back to Al Hira. Then he set out secretly with a small escort on the
pious errand. Without a guide he traversed the devious desert route with
marvellous sagacity and speed. Having accomplished the rites of pilgrimage, he
retraced his steps from Mecca with the like despatch, and re-entered Al Hira in
early spring, just as the rearguard was marching in. So well had he kept his
secret, that the army thought he had been all the while at Al Firad, and now was
journeying slowly back. Even Abu Bakr, who himself presided at the pilgrimage,
was unaware of the presence of his great General'.

The attitude of the Byzantine armies on the frontiers
bordering Syria was equally threatening since the time of the Prophet (sws). The
Byzantine armies had made frequent incursions into the Arab territories
bordering Syria and carried away their cattle and other belongings. Khalid who
was stationed on the Syrian frontiers, met with some success against the
Byzantine armies. Caliph Abu Bakr, having realized the great danger looming on
the Syrian horizon, requested the Muslims to enroll themselves for active
service on the Syrian front. More than a thousand Companions of the Prophet
(sws), including one hundred who had participated in the battle of Badr
volunteered themselves. The Caliph in person went up to the Plain of Jurf to bid
farewell to each brigade bound for Syria and gave the following command, as
quoted by Sir William Muir: `Men, I have ten orders to give you, which you must
observe loyally: Deceive none and steal from none; betray none and mutilate
none; kill no child, nor woman, nor aged man; neither bark nor burn the date
palms; cut not down fruit trees nor destroy crops; flocks, cattle nor camels
except for food. You will also meet with men living in cells; leave them alone
in that to which they have devoted themselves .... Instructions of a more
general character were given to the leader-to promise good government to the
invaded people, and to keep his promise; not to stay much at a time, and always
to be straightforward; to respect ambassadors, but not to detain them long lest
they become spies; to preserve secrecy where necessary, to make the round of
sentinels by night and by day; and never to be slack.'

Three divisions comprising five thousand soldiers each
were despatched to the Syrian front under the command of Shurjil bin Hasana, Amr
bin Aas, and Yazid bin Abu Sufyan. Abu Ubaidah the would-be Supreme Commander on
the Syrian front, was also entrusted with the command of a separate Division.
But the Byzantines had mustered a force in the neighborhood of Yermuk which was
ten times stronger than that of the Muslims. This necessitated the transfer of
Khalid bin Waleed to the Syrian front. The wise Caliph Abu Bakr ordered Khalid
to hurry up to the Syrian front with half of his forces, leaving the second half
in Iraq under the command of Al-Muthanna. According to historians Tabari,
Muqaddasi and Ballazuri, the Caliph had appointed Khalid as Supreme Commander of
the Muslim forces on the Syrian front. The lightning march of Khalid and his men
through a trackless, waterless and impassable desert lying between Iraq and
Syria, is one of the most daring feats ever recorded in living history. He
crossed the desert in five days and the eminence on which he stood sill bears
the name `Thanniyat ul Ukab' (the Pass of the Eagle).

The Muslim army in Syria was divided into four corps which
were operating under the command of four Generals in different sectors. Abu
Ubaidah was in command of the division of Hems, with Headquarters at Jabia, Amr
ibn Aas was in command of the Damascus Division and Sharjil ibn Hasana was in
command of the Division operating in Jordan. On the advice of Umar, the Caliph
Abu Bakr ordered the concentration of the entire Muslim force at Jaulan near
Yermuk in April 634 A.C. in order to meet an enemy whose resources, wealth and
supply of fighting material were unlimited. The Romans, too, drew together all
their corps, and the huge Roman army encamped in the semi-circular loop of
Yermuk river protected on three sides by the river which they considered to be
an ideal camping ground. The Muslim army arrived later and occupied the
bottle-neck. The Romans realized their mistake but it was too late. The two
armies watched each other for two months when Khalid arrived on the scene. He
was entrusted with the Supreme Command of the Muslim forces. According to all
authentic historical sources, including that of Tabari, the army of Heraclius
numbered two lacs and forty thousand whilst the Muslims were only forty
thousand. The Roman army was commanded by some of their famous generals and
warriors, including Theodore the Sakkellarius, Bannes the American and Jarja
(George). Khalid bin Waleed, realizing the superiority of the Romans in numbers
and arms, resorted to his usual tactics and divided his army into thirty eight
equal corps, each commanded by tried warriors. On August 30, 634 A.C. the
Romans, inspired by the priests, came out from their camp to encounter the
Arabs. A terrible carnage ensued and the Romans were defeated with fearful
slaughter. According to Tabari, more than one hundred and twenty thousand Romans
perished in the valley of Wakusa and were drowned in the river. With this
memorable victory in the Battle of yermuk, the whole of Syria lay at the feet of
the Muslims. In this memorable battle Khalid bin Waleed exhibited a super
military skill, extraordinary chivalry and rare strategic moves. When the news
of the disaster was conveyed to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius at Antioch, he
said, `Farewell Syria, my fair province. Thou art enemy's now'; and he quitted
Antioch for Constantinople. Khalid declared `Syria sat as quiet as a camel'. But
before the decision of the battle of Yermuk, the Caliph Abu Bakr died and was
succeeded by Umar. Immediately after his election as Caliph, Umar issued orders
for the deposition of Khalid from the Supreme Command. The letter delivered to
Khalid in the heat of battle of Yermuk was kept a secret till the issue was
decided. Khalid gladly bowed down to the orders of the Caliph and till his death
fought as an ordinary soldier in the armies of Islam. He exhibited a sense of
discipline scarcely shown by a General of his calibre. Disregarding all the
humiliation which this order might have caused him, he continued to serve with
unflagging zeal as a faithful solder of Islam in all the campaigns fought in
Syria thereafter.

During the Caliphate of Umar, Muslim forces won brilliant
victories in Syria, Iraq, Persia and Egypt and the Islamic banner was carried to
the western extremities of Egypt in the West and to the shores of the Caspian in
the North. The siege of Damascus lasted for more than two months and one night
when the birth of a child of the Lord Bishop was being celebrated in the city,
Khalid along with his associates scaled the walls and opened the Eastern gate.
The cry of Allah-u-Akbar rent the air, and the feasters having understood the
critical situation capitulated to Abu Ubaidah, the Muslim Commander guarding the
Western gate. The two armies --- one led by Khalid claimed to have captured the
city and the other commanded by Abu Ubaidah which had accepted capitulation of
the city on certain terms, met in the heart of the city. At last, the terms of
the capitulation accepted by Abu Ubaidah were held good for the entire city and
it was ratified by Caliph Umar.

Khalik took part in several campaigns fought in Syria,
including those of Hems and Kansarain. With the conquest of Kansarain, the last
stronghold of the Byzantines in Syria, the rule of Byzantines in Syria came to
an end and the Emperor Heraclius retired to Constantinople never to return. The
exceptional valour exhibited by Khalid in the campaign of Kansarain obliged Umar
to change his view about him. He acknowledged openly : `God may bless Abu Bakr.
He had greater sense for the right type of men than myself'.

The respect shown by the Muslim conquerors towards the
conquered races in Iraq and Syria was to a great extent, responsible for
establishing a stable government and sound administration in these regions.
Writing in "Caliphate ---Its Rise, Decline and Fall", Sir William Muir
acknowledges: `Had the Muslims ill-treated the people of Syria or persecuted
their religion, their position would have been desperate indeed; but their
leniency towards the conquered and their justice and integrity presented a
marked contrast to the tyranny and intolerance of the Romans.....the Syrian
Christians enjoyed more civil and political liberty under their Arab invaders
than they had done under the rule of Heraclius and they had no wish to return to
their former state....The Muslims, when they withdrew, returned the taxes which
they had collected, since they were no longer able to fulfil their part of the
bargain in guaranteeing security of life and property. A nestorian Bishop writes
about the year 15: The Talites (Arabs) to whom God had accorded in our days the
dominion, have become our masters; but they do not combat the Christian
religion; much rather they protect our faith, they respect our priests and our
holymen, and make gifts to our churches and our convents'. Thus, Muslims in
Syria ruled both over the body and the heart of their subjects in Syria and
Iraq.

The reason behind the deposition of Khalid was not malice
on the part of the great Caliph Umar. He was too great a person to be associated
with such acts. As Sir William Muir puts it: `The Military Chief had to give
place to the civil functionary; sword to pen; Khalid to Abu Ubaidah. There is no
occasion to seek any ulterior motives which might have led Umar to replace
Khalid by Abu Ubaidah. Least of all can personal dislike have influenced him.
Umar was too great for that.' Umar tried to remove the misunderstanding created
among the people about the deposition of Khalid bin Waleed. He sent a rescript
to the various provinces announcing that he had not deposed Khalid because of
any fault on his part, but because people had begun to repose greater trust in
Khalid than in God.

According to the celebrated historians Tabari and Ibni
Asakir, Khalid bin Waleed, the Sword of God, died in Hems in 21 A.H. (644 A.C.).

Thus passed way the hero of hundreds of battles with an
unrealized wish for martyrdom on his dying lips. `Alas', he murmured, `I, who
fought hundreds of battles and have innumerable battle scars on my body, could
bot be blessed with martyrdom --- the greatest ambition of all true Muslims'. On
hearing the news of his death, Caliph Umar exclaimed, `The death of Khalid has
created a void in Islam which cannot be filled.'

`The military campaigns of Khalid bin Waleed and Amr ibn
al Aas' writes Philip K. Hitti, in his monumental work. "The History of the
Arabs" which ensued in Iraq, Persia, Syria and Egypt are among the most
brilliantly executed in the history of warfare and bear favourable comparison
with those of Napoleon, Hannibal or Alexander'.